 |
NOT the 17th century fragment I nearly bought
[see below] but similar. |
Busy
time hence a rather late post. My sister Heather and her friend,
Barbara, to stay and somehow, what with the talking, wandelen along
canals and cobbled streets, and eating, not to mention the nightly
gin-for-some on the terrace, [apparently All The Rage in Britain, especially with the fashionable Fevertree tonic],
time has slid past. Friends from Germany and Holland also visited and
the sun obligingly shone. We didn’t make KookEet alas but we did go
to the Saturday market where chickens and tiny rabbits plus turkeys
with purple heads all took the attention. I bought flowers and plants
and we enjoyed the lines of plant stalls especially, Barbara being a
Proper Gardener and sister Heather a Very Good Gardener and
Plants-woman. I love my little terrace but do treat it as an outside
room to be displayed at its best whenever possible, though many plant
names escape me, so neither a proper gardener nor a plants-woman!
We were taken to see a lovely huge garden, formerly
the little family farm, created and tended by its devoted owners. It
wasn’t pretty in the conventional English way with wide herbaceous
borders but featured many interesting trees, and domed and newly-shaven
clumps of buxus with areas of gorgeous grasses and a stunning and
huge display of enormous hortensia. This extended and sheltered
estate is peaceful and danced with slanting shadows from trees under the sun the
day we were there. I particularly loved a huge Italian mask set near
a boundary which hid a seat on the reverse; surprising and whimsical.
The whole is clearly the result of an overwhelming passion for the
place but it is also a stage, shared with the extended family who do
none of the creative work but who are allowed to present various
family events there.
Brugge never fails to surprise!
Breakfast
at Blackbird, lunch at de Belegde Boterham and late lunch on Sunday
at the Belgian Pigeon House all contributed to a lovely holiday
feeling. The Memlings in Oud Sint Jan retained their
 |
| 14th century cellar at the Belgian Pigeon House |
 |
| Antique Chinese games box |
uniquely
special, haunting quality but perhaps the greatest fun was had at the
Zandfeest, so-called, though as ‘t Zand closely resembles a war zone
nine months after the start of the renewal [end date is envisaged for
June 2018] the Rommelmarkt was chiefly on the large area where the
Beurshalle was before demolition plus the usual long stretch behind
the Concertgebouw towards the station. It was crowded and some, like
my German boys, take the whole flea market so seriously as to arrive
at around 6.00 a.m. in search perhaps of yet more Jesus statues to
add to the hundred or so already in residence in their Cologne flat!
We were more sedate but nonetheless devoted to The Pursuit and I am
still in mourning for the perfect little antique Chinese game [not
Mah Jong] I didn’t buy for 86 euros, and the gorgeous remnant of a
tiny early seventeenth century ceramic lid beautifully decorated for which I couldn't quite pay the necessary 50 euros. Oh the ache of a significant loss of nerve!
 |
| The true devotee, Zandfeesting at 6.00 a.m. |
 |
| Paul's garden, freshly shaven. |
Busy
time hence a rather late post. My sister Heather and her friend,
Barbara, to stay and somehow, what with the talking, wandelen along
canals and cobbled streets, and eating, not to mention the nightly
gin-for-some on the terrace, [apparently All The Rage in Britain, especially with the fashionable Fevertree tonic],
time has slid past. Friends from Germany and Holland also visited and
the sun obligingly shone. We didn’t make KookEet alas but we did go
to the Saturday market where chickens and tiny rabbits plus turkeys
with purple heads all took the attention. I bought flowers and plants
and we enjoyed the lines of plant stalls especially, Barbara being a
Proper Gardener and sister Heather a Very Good Gardener and
Plants-woman. I love my little terrace but do treat it as an outside
room to be displayed at its best whenever possible, though many plant
names escape me, so neither a proper gardener nor a plants-woman!
We were taken to see a lovely huge garden, formerly
the little family farm, created and tended by its devoted owners. It
wasn’t pretty in the conventional English way with wide herbaceous
borders but featured many interesting trees, and domed and newly-shaven
clumps of buxus with areas of gorgeous grasses and a stunning and
huge display of enormous hortensia. This extended and sheltered
estate is peaceful and danced with slanting shadows from trees under the sun the
day we were there. I particularly loved a huge Italian mask set near
a boundary which hid a seat on the reverse; surprising and whimsical.
The whole is clearly the result of an overwhelming passion for the
place but it is also a stage, shared with the extended family who do
none of the creative work but who are allowed to present various
family events there.
Brugge never fails to surprise!
